The two convoys passed each other about five minutes after the second convoy entered Ukraine.

Photo from @vysotskiy.ap

A long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine has spotted convoys of Russian trucks entering and exiting eastern Ukraine across the uncontrolled border section without border crossing facilities in the middle of night.

"An SMM long-range UAV spotted convoys of trucks entering and exiting Ukraine via a dirt track where there are no border crossing facilities in the middle of the night. At 22:15 on August 7, an SMM long-range UAV spotted a convoy of eight canvas-covered six-wheeled cargo trucks (five KamAZ-4310 and the rest undetermined) travelling east along a road near Chystiakove (non-government-controlled, 62km east of Donetsk). Near Manych (non-government-controlled, 76km east of Donetsk), approximately 3.5km before reaching Ukraine's border with the Russian Federation, the convoy turned east onto a dirt track that leads across the border," the OSCE SMM said in an update based on information received as of 19:30 on August 8, 2018.

The UAV then spotted a second convoy (consisting of an off-road vehicle (UAZ) leading six canvas-covered six-wheeled KamAZ cargo trucks and a box body truck) travelling westwards from the border with the Russian Federation along the same dirt track.

"The two convoys passed each other about five minutes after the second convoy entered Ukraine. At around 23:25, the UAV spotted the first convoy exiting Ukraine via the same dirt track. The second convoy was later joined by two additional KamAZ cargo trucks also coming from the direction of the border with the Russian Federation," the update said.

Each of the convoys separately stopped for about three minutes next to an off-road vehicle that was parked in a field along the above-mentioned dirt track, 1.7km from the border, and again next to two trucks parked at the intersection of the dirt track and the paved road (3.5km from where the convoys crossed the border).

"At both spots, the occupants of the parked vehicles (the off-road vehicle in the field and the two trucks at the intersection) can be seen interacting with the drivers of each convoy's lead vehicle. The convoy seen heading westward into Ukraine was observed driving west and finally parking at the southern outskirts of Khrustalnyi (formerly Krasnyi Luch, non-government-controlled, 56km south-west of Luhansk) at 01:16 on August 8," it said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the OSCE SMM reported its observers had spotted twenty-four T-72 tanks of the Russian occupation forces in Donbas on August 6, 2018.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+Enter